9-11 deCeMbeR 2006
PuLaU TiNgGi CiP tRiP - BriDgE

Day One

I woke up at 6am, and took a cab to kranji station. was trying to catch some sleep on the cab but the cab driver kept talking to me. anyway.. cab fare: $13. was early.. so waited for a while for everyone to come. ended up talking to my classmates, yiling, ghis, fel & stella.

took the bus past the causeway, was jammed. went to eat breakfast at a malay stall, ate prata. and we cldnt understand the guy cuz he was speaking malay. lol. anyway, took a coach to mersing, it took 2 hours. so we watched RV on the dvd player.. but it kept getting stuck, so i decided to sleep. and i did! reached the jetty to get to pulau tinggi.. and got on the boat. was sitting at the back but cldnt sleep. it took 1 hr. by the time we got there it was alr after lunch time.. so we ate. shared room with huihua.. we changed room with stella & her sis who changed with another person.. so our rooms were connecting. ghis, yiling & fel's room was next to ours. anyway.. i was fighting with hh for the extra pillow... because i found it 1st. haha.

played some orientation games after lunch.. rather lame.. because we were playing the fire, hunter, earthquake game. and we were rotating btwn ghis, yiling, fel, joseph & justin. haha. did dry run for the next day's building the bridge. so we did up all the wood and drilling and chiseling. took a really really long time. we were supposed to have free time... but ended up not having any because it took quite long in the dark. but the instructors kept helping us do.. so we eye power. lol. by the time we finished it was abt 10pm. had a grp meeting b4 going back. oh yes.. my grp.. Blossom: Jia Hao (leader), Yi Song (2nd- ic), Fel, me, linus, benjamin, connie, bi xiu, ming huang, du ying, li ping, joseph. fel and i wanted to go back to our room.. but didnt dare because it was too dark. went back with stella... hh already took the toilet... so went to stella's room to gossip for a while. haha.

slept a long while later... after talking to hh for some while.. the air con was quite noisy. and wasnt quiet. lol. had to wake up at 6am the next day. stella left the light on in her room...so had some light.

Day Two

Had to wake up at 6am again, because breakfast was at 6.15am. but by the time we changed, and waited for everyone, it was already 6.30am. went to have breakfast... it was french toast, fried maggie mee, porridge, koko crunch. (and ghis predicted that there'd be french toast the day b4!) i only ate 2 french toast and 1 milo... since i cldnt eat in the morning. hh ate a lot. haha. had to wear track pants, dark shirt and wet activity shoes. had a last run thru before loading all the equipment on the boat. estimated time: 6 hours. while waiting to load everything on the boat, we were on the jetty looking at the water. it was beautiful. so clear, so blue... i just felt like jumping down and swimming in it. you cld really see the rocks below. where do you get to see something like that in s'pore? anyway, got on the boat and travelled there because it was high tide and we cldnt get there by foot. on the boat, fel & i were talking to zuo jie, who was sitting at the side and attempting to litter. haha. was threatening to push him off the boat.

we stopped quite far away from the swamp, because the boat cldnt go further in. had to get there by a sampan. fel, i and 4 other people went on the 1st sampan to the swamp. and gosh.. i think the look on our faces were damn funny.. because we saw the rest later. we reached our destination.. and our faces said "gosh... we have to get down here?!" it was swampy.. but it was high tide.. so there was water and we had to wade thru it. no choice.. so we jumped into the water. it was knee-deep. waited for the 2nd boat to come in with some more people and some of the equipment. the leaders were playing with the walkie-talkie, talking crap to one another. louis said there was a crocodile in the swamp and it was attacking. and it had already ate one of us. haha!!

anyway, first came the planks for the bridge. we formed a human chain and transported the planks to the entrance. the 1st load took a long time.. because we were tansporting one by one. slowly, more and more people and planks came (there must be 100 planks), so we took faster. was slacking while waiting for more people to arrive, so fel, me & linus were talking to johnny (name changed for confidentiality).. who was ccb look alike. and my goodness! he was really really like ccb. we thought he was his long lost brother or something. haha. anyway.. he's from ac. joseph's og mate. poor thing. fel was finding out more... in case he was really ccb's relative or something. HAHA. the resemblence is uncanny, quoting from ghislaine.

a while later, louis asked a few guys to walk the path into the building site to recce the place first, then the 2nd grp went in. the 2nd grp was me, fel & linus. was transported some planks to them, while waiting for the 3rd grp to meet us. we slowly formed a human chain, with grps at checkpoints. the people transferring the planks to us were pei wei, connie and zhi kai. and the number of planks... ergh! never ending! pei wei passed the planks to me, and i passed it to linus, who passed them to fel, who gave them to jerrick and the rest. speaking of jerrick... he was damn funny! he was imitaing the birds there and attempting to talk to them. it was so alike! he said "no! it's not me!"...which made all of us laugh! he kept making the sounds while we were transferring the planks. anyway, pei wei was so nice as to walk the downslope part to pass it to me. thanks! linus and i decided that we'd hate planks forever. haha. we moved down the path while transporting the stuff, and the hardest was the poles... because it was so heavy! we had to slide it down the steep slope to reach the site. the cement weighed a ton.

when we finally got everything down, it was alr 12pm. estimated loading & unloading time: 1hour. actual time: 4hours. yeah. i know. crazy. my grp, the far bank people, started building the A-frame (and believe me, it's not as easy as it is in NP)... got one up. had to dig a hole in the mud. went for lunch first. shortage of spoons, so i shared with ghis. had fried rice and chicken. was cooling my feet off in the water, because my shoes were soggy. i just felt like standing there with my feet in the water. anyway, went back to building the 2nd A-frame and joining it tgt, believe me, it was difficult. had to put the ropes thru. the instructors were really good, they cld climb the A-frame without a ladder... standing up there like a monkey! he was showing off to the others how stable ours was. haha. jerrick climbed up too.. and he really looked like a monkey!

it was finally time for blossom to rest and for bubbles to do the tension. however, all of us ended up doing the tensioning because all were needed to pull.. after we pulled all we cld, the rope was still a bit slack. so we decided to lay the planks... (did i say how much i hate planks?) then the weaving of planks to the rope to secure it. helped the far bank side weave. zuo jie was so fast.. after almost all the weaving was done, we helped pull and tension the rope again. it was slacking to much that it touched the ground, when it was supposed to be 1m above grd. the instructors decided that they really cldnt pull it anymore. so decided to build a support to support the middle. yiling joined me at the near bank, and we were talking and slacking, since most of the job were done by the guys. the sun was already setting and it was getting darker. so yiling and i started imagining what we wld see. muahaha. anyway, we finally completed the bridge at 7.30pm. it was dark by then, and everyone's legs were aching. estimated time of completion: 6hours. actual time: 12hours.

we saw fireflies!!!!!!! in the dark, we cld see so many! they were everywhere in the forest! so cool! we were so awed by them, because of the nice lights in pitch darkness. instructors decided to go back by the same way and our faces changed. because the path we came from was dangerous enough in the day, with slopes and slippery parts. and now, it was almost pitch dark. one slip of the foot and we'd fall off the cliff. and what's worse, we only had 1 torchlight! we were all afraid. this kinda reminded me of the NP times that we had solo night walk, as well as walks at night in pulau ubin.

we holded hands and joined in a single line, with the torchlight in front, and made our way up the path we came from. my goodness, scary indeed. but there was a lot of communication and help by the rest, so we managed to go thru logs, vines and slippery rocks quite safely. on the way, we were trying to recognise the places that we passed, so linus said he remembered our checkpoint because of the rock. the 2nd time we passed another rock.. he said he was wrong the 1st time... and the 3rd time we passed another, he said he was wrong the 2nd time! haha. so after abt 25mins, we all safely made it out to the swamp. thank God! i was really praying hard for safety. we were making our way to the kampong to eat our dinner, but most of us didnt feel like going, we said we'd rather go back empty stomach and bathe and sleep. the time was 8.30pm.

because it was low tide, we cld walk there. and low tide meant that what was water before, was a stretch of sand. the water really drew back a lot. walked on sand and thru shallow water. there were fireflies in the sand.. and we were trying not to step on them. fel was really scared that the tide would come in. and i must say that i was really calm thru the journey, by God's grace. i was scared at first, afraid that we wldnt make it, but after that i was calm. and i must really thank God for this. maybe it's because of the many times NP has thought me to walk in the dark, alone. but it's also by His protection that all of us made it thru. Praise be to God!

we walked thru rocks on the coast, it was slippery and many slipped, including me. all the way, the girls were holding hands. haha. we reached this abandoned house and the inst were able to get some light by a fire. the house was really freaky. it was where i was most frightened. the windows were boarded up, and it really looked like those in the movies. and it made me imagine scary things. esp when there was a hole in the floor. we went thru some more rocks, before reaching a sandy part. we were so relieved after seeing lights in the distance. we walked on the sandy beach... was walking with fel.. looking at the stars. and the stars were so beautiful! you dont get to see such stars in s'pore... and it was really really great! we walked to slowly, admiring the wide night sky filled with stars... anyway, we finally reached the kampong. we reached at 10pm. so altogether we took 2 hrs to walk from the bridge to the kampong.

washed our feet and had dinner. cats were running all over.. so cute. all of us were dying of thrist. had our dinner quickly and thanked the village head, before walking to the jetty to take the boat back. on the way, we were gossiping abt johnny, and stanley was telling us abt the joke that jerrick made earlier... it was so lame that it was damn funny. haha. zuo jie ran all the way back because he forgot his bag. haha. my classmates and i got on the boat and went on the top.. with a few other people. i was threatening to push stanley off the boat, because he was sitting at the edge. we were still talking abt johnny. lol!

then we laid back on the deck to admire the stars. they were really really beautiful! words cant express how beautiful they were. thank god there was zuo jie, whose interest was in astronomy, so he told us abt the milky way, which we cld see. it was so nice!! we saw Orion, it was so cool! 3 stars with 3 beside it, and the orion cloud. oh.. and he told us abt the shooting stars.. how fast they travlled. he and pei wei saw one earlier. then there was this aeroplane passing.. it had lights that looked like stars.. so out of excitement we asked zj... is that a shooting star? and he said yes.. and i was screaming... make a wish!! only to realise that it was an aeroplane that was behind a cloud. HAHAHAHAH. stanley was laughing at us... and we were all laughing like crazy. we continued to admire the stars.. because we cldnt get enough of it. we saw flying fish, which was really cool... cuz they skimmed the water so fast.

finally reached the jetty at our resort. collected our keys, and went back to our room. i let hh go in 1st because she needed to bomb.. so in my dirty clothes, i went to stella's room to gossip abt johnny with her.. so funny! hh shouted out that there was a cockroach and i started screaming... so i didnt dare go back and stayed in stella's room. haha. i bathed..and i was good. haha. ghis came to my room to borrow shampoo, and conditioner and ended up bathing in my room. lol. hh went to sleep soon after. and ghis, yiling, fel joined stella, her sis and i in stella's room to gossip. linus came over and attempted to play cards with us but he left a while later. fel had a splinter stuck in her finger.. so she went to find saiful.. but cldnt. she came back and we started to talk.. and kept digressing. rachel(stella's sis) had fallen asleep on the bed.. asked her to go sleep with hh.. but she didnt want to. so we were talking and eating koko crunch which some of them koped from the snack bar. no more keropok because the guys watching soccer ate it all up. the keropok was damn nice.

we decided not to disturb rachel, who was sleeping.. so we went to ghis, yiling and fel's room to talk. stella and i slept over at their room, which meant that stellla abandoned her sis, and i abandoned hh. haha. stella slept on the sofa bed, and i on the extra matress and the 3 of them on the twin bed. fel was telling us abt her myanmar trip... ghis suddenly exclaimed that she didnt brush her teeth. lol. yiling and i were the first to sleep, because we were closing our eyes and listening to fel & stella talk. i fell asleep very quickly, i didnt even know when. by that time, it was 3.30am, and we set the alarm at 8.30 the next morning. at 7 something stella turned off the air con cuz it was too cold.. then at 8.30am ghis' hp alarm rang... which was damn irritating. so we put it on snooze and slept for a while till it rang again. went back to my room to wash up and brush my teeth, cuz i didnt the night b4. haha. hh was still asleep. i think she realised i abandoned her. lol.

Day Three

we all went for breakfast tgt. this time, it was fried beehoon, egg bread and nasi lemak. ate and stoned while ghis and yiling were eating koko crunch. went back to change. we still had time before checking out.. so hh slept again. ghis, yiling, fel and i decided to walk to the beach.. since it was so nice. found a few guys snorkling there. we took off our shoes and walked on the smooth sand. and it was really smooth. with no litter, no twigs or whatever on it. totally opposite from s'pore beaches. it felt so good under our feet. we went into the clear water... so clear... so fresh. we walked along the beach with the wind in our hair... it was really good. felt like a movie. haha. we walked quite far from the resort... were writing our names on the sand. and we saw that justin had written his name on the sand.. so we decided to add something to it. haha.

decided to walk back with the wind blowing again.. went to wash our feet. then packed up and went to the lobby. sat there for a while playing those stupid games like black magic. then got onto the boat to make our way back to the jetty at mainland. some of them sat on the deck. we wanted to go up.. but it was hot up there.. so we stood somewhere in front inside to enjoy the scenery and breeze. the sea and wind was nice.. and ghis, fel and i were enjoying it fully. yiling had motion sickness, so she cldnt really join us. i was taking pictures with my phone. zuo jie joined us.. and we were talking to him, and not forgetting, suaning him. haha. was talking abt malaysia, since at least one of our parents were from m'sia. penang food! yum!!

we sat down there with the wind blowing us to sleep... but we reached. got onto the bus.. some of them went to the van...because there wasnt enough space. was eating twisties and talking to ghis for abt one hour. before deciding to sleep. fell asleep again till we reached terbrau city! oh.. i dreamt the night before that we didnt get to shop because of not enough time.. guess i was too tired. the rest dreamt abt stuff too. lol. and well, we really only got 1 hr.. because saiful was scared there'd be a jam. so we walked quickly thru the shops.. we found dunkin' donuts. was looking for A&W.. but it was changed to kenny rogers! argh! the shops were quite high end... kind of like vivo city. so the 4 of us ended up at jusco, buying sushi, bb gum and snacks for lunch.

as with all s'poreans, dunkin donuts is an all time favourite, because there isnt a chain in s'pore. there was a whole line of us at the shop, picking from the wide array of donuts. buy 5 get 1 free for 10RM. the small ones were 20 for 8.40RM. so the 4 of us shared it. business was good for dunkin donuts that day. haha. so with everyone holding a packet of donuts, we boarded the bus and i gobbled up all the food we bought even b4 the bus started moving. lol.

it was jam for a while at the malaysian side of the causeway. at the customs at m'sia, i was seperated from the rest because of the m'sian passport thingy. so joined shu ying and yu yuan (aka fishball) who are fellow m'sians. i went to the auto gate.. the 2 of them didnt. they were fast... because they told me that the imigration officer just waved them thru! haha. they were worried that they cldnt get thru the s'pore side.. because the officer didnt even scan their passports. reached the s'pore side.. the others went thru the automated one... because they hadnt done it b4... so cool for them. joined shu ying and yu yuan again.. and we were talking abt how high tech s'pore was... then yu yuan said ours was even more high tech.. cuz the officer just waved them thru at the m'sian side.. so he said that actually the officer was a robot in disguise...using his eyes to automatically scan the passports. HAHA! got thru the customs and made our way to kranji mrt.

louis said some debrief stuff... and we said our thanks.. and left for home sweet home. must really thank them for leading us thruout the whole journey. took the mrt home with ghis and fel.. were talking abt the funny things that happened during the trip.. esp the 'aeroplane' shooting star thing. haha. came home to watch show.. and i ko-ed at 10pm.. cuz i only got 5 hours of sleep the night before.

been typing for quite long... so i shall not really write much abt reflections. all i will say is that it was a really enriching time builing the bridge, and bonding with fellow njcians and seeing things that you wont get to see in s'pore. it was esp great being able to interact with my classmates and know them better and the experience was really once in a lifetime, esp walking in the dark for 2 hours. great and meaningful!~